Against Heresies
Classic translation
2nd c. · Polemics & Heresiology · English translation, 1890
Source edition: The Ante-Nicene Fathers (ed. Roberts & Donaldson, 1885)
Cover art: Ruins of an Ancient City — John Martin (British, 1789–1854) (Wikimedia Commons (Cleveland Museum of Art), Public domain)
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Contents
- Against Heresies: Book 1
- Preface
- 1. Absurd ideas of the disciples of Valentinus as to the origin, name, order…
- 2. The Propator was known to Monogenes alone. Ambition, disturbance, and danger…
- 3. Texts of Holy Scripture used by these heretics to support their opinions
- 4. Account given by the heretics of the formation of Achamoth; origin of the…
- 5. Formation of the Demiurge; description of him. He is the creator of…
- 6. The threefold kind of man feigned by these heretics: good works needless for…
- 7. The mother Achamoth, when all her seed are perfected, shall pass into the…
- 8. How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious…
- 9. Refutation of the impious interpretations of these heretics
- 10. Unity of the faith of the Church throughout the whole world
- 11. The opinions of Valentinus, with those of his disciples and others
- 12. The doctrines of the followers of Ptolemy and Colorbasus
- 13. The deceitful arts and nefarious practices of Marcus
- 14. The various hypotheses of Marcus and others. Theories respecting letters…
- 15. Sige relates to Marcus the generation of the twenty-four elements and of…
- 16. Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians
- 17. The theory of the Marcosians, that created things were made after the image…
- 18. Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their…
- 19. Passages of Scripture by which they attempt to prove that the Supreme…
- 20. The apocryphal and spurious Scriptures of the Marcosians, with passages of…
- 21. The views of redemption entertained by these heretics
- 22. Deviations of heretics from the truth
- 23. Doctrines and practices of Simon Magus and Menander
- 24. Doctrines of Saturninus and Basilides
- Chapter 25.—Doctrines of Carpocrates
- 26. Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes
- 27. Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion
- 28. Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, and others
- 29. Doctrines of various other Gnostic sects, and especially of the Barbeliotes…
- 30. Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians
- Chapter 31.—Doctrines of the Cainites
- Against Heresies: Book 2
- Preface
- 1. There is but one God: the impossibility of its being otherwise
- 2. The world was not formed by angels, or by any other being, contrary to the…
- 3. The Bythus and Pleroma of the Valentinians, as well as the God of Marcion…
- 4. The absurdity of the supposed vacuum and defect of the heretics is…
- 5. This world was not formed by any other beings within the territory which is…
- 6. The angels and the Creator of the world could not have been ignorant of the…
- 7. Created things are not the images of those Æons who are within the Pleroma
- 8. Created things are not a shadow of the Pleroma
- 9. There is but one Creator of the world, God the Father: this the constant…
- 10. Perverse interpretations of Scripture by the heretics: God created all…
- 11. The heretics, from their disbelief of the truth, have fallen into an abyss…
- 12. The Triacontad of the heretics errs both by defect and excess: Sophia could…
- 13. The first order of production maintained by the heretics is altogether…
- 14. Valentinus and his followers derived the principles of their system from…
- 15. No account can be given of these productions
- 16. The Creator of the world either produced of Himself the images of things to…
- 17. Inquiry into the production of the Æons: whatever its supposed nature, it…
- 18. Sophia was never really in ignorance or passion; her Enthymesis could not…
- 19. Absurdities of the heretics as to their own origin: their opinions…
- 20. Futility of the arguments adduced to demonstrate the sufferings of the…
- 21. The twelve apostles were not a type of the Æons
- 22. The thirty Æons are not typified by the fact that Christ was baptized in…
- 23. The woman who suffered from an issue of blood was no type of the suffering…
- 24. Folly of the arguments derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and…
- 25. God is not to be sought after by means of letters, syllables, and numbers…
- 26. “Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.”
- 27. Proper mode of interpreting parables and obscure passages of Scripture
- 28. Perfect knowledge cannot be attained in the present life: many questions…
- 29. Refutation of the views of the heretics as to the future destiny of the…
- 30. Absurdity of their styling themselves spiritual, while the Demiurge is…
- 31. Recapitulation and application of the foregoing arguments
- 32. Further exposure of the wicked and blasphemous doctrines of the heretics
- 33. Absurdity of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls
- 34. Souls can be recognised in the separate state, and are immortal although…
- 35. Refutation of Basilides, and of the opinion that the prophets uttered their…
- Against Heresies: Book 3
- Preface
- 1. The apostles did not commence to preach the Gospel, or to place anything on…
- 2. The heretics follow neither Scripture nor tradition
- 3. A refutation of the heretics, from the fact that, in the various Churches, a…
- 4. The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church, the sole…
- 5. Christ and His apostles, without any fraud, deception, or hypocrisy…
- 6. The Holy Ghost, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, made mention of no…
- 7. Reply to an objection founded on the words of St. Paul (2 Cor. iv. 4). St…
- 8. Answer to an objection, arising from the words of Christ (Matt. vi. 24). God…
- 9. One and the same God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is He whom the…
- 10. Proofs of the foregoing, drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke
- 11. Proofs in continuation, extracted from St. John’s Gospel. The Gospels are…
- 12. Doctrine of the rest of the apostles
- 13. Refutation of the opinion, that Paul was the only apostle who had knowledge…
- 14. If Paul had known any mysteries unrevealed to the other apostles, Luke, his…
- 15. Refutation of the Ebionites, who disparaged the authority of St. Paul, from…
- 16. Proofs from the apostolic writings, that Jesus Christ was one and the same…
- 17. The apostles teach that it was neither Christ nor the Saviour, but the Holy…
- 18. Continuation of the foregoing argument. Proofs from the writings of St…
- 19. Jesus Christ was not a mere man, begotten from Joseph in the ordinary…
- 20. God showed himself, by the fall of man, as patient, benign, merciful…
- 21. A vindication of the prophecy in Isa. vii. 14 against the…
- 22. Christ assumed actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin
- 23. Arguments in opposition to Tatian, showing that it was consonant to divine…
- 24. Recapitulation of the various arguments adduced against Gnostic impiety…
- 25. This world is ruled by the providence of one God, who is both endowed with…
- Against Heresies: Book 4
- Preface
- 1. The Lord acknowledged but one God and Father
- 2. Proofs from the plain testimony of Moses, and of the other prophets, whose…
- 3. Answer to the cavils of the Gnostics. We are not to suppose that the true…
- 4. Answer to another objection, showing that the destruction of Jerusalem…
- 5. The author returns to his former argument, and shows that there was but one…
- 6. Explanation of the words of Christ, “No man knoweth the Father, but the…
- 7. Recapitulation of the foregoing argument, showing that Abraham, through the…
- 8. Vain attempts of Marcion and his followers, who exclude Abraham from the…
- 9. There is but one author, and one end to both covenants
- 10. The Old Testament Scriptures, and those written by Moses in particular, do…
- 11. The old prophets and righteous men knew beforehand of the advent of Christ…
- 12. It clearly appears that there was but one author of both the old and the…
- 13. Christ did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law, but rather…
- 14. If God demands obedience from man, if He formed man, called him and placed…
- 15. At first God deemed it sufficient to inscribe the natural law, or the…
- 16. Perfect righteousness was conferred neither by circumcision nor by any…
- 17. Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for His own sake…
- 18. Concerning sacrifices and oblations, and those who truly offer them
- 19. Earthly things may be the type of heavenly, but the latter cannot be the…
- 20. That one God formed all things in the world, by means of the Word and the…
- 21. Abraham’s faith was identical with ours; this faith was prefigured by the…
- 22. Christ did not come for the sake of the men of one age only, but for all…
- 23. The patriarchs and prophets by pointing out the advent of Christ, fortified…
- 24. The conversion of the Gentiles was more difficult than that of the Jews…
- 25. Both covenants were prefigured in Abraham, and in the labour of Tamar…
- 26. The treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ; the true exposition of the…
- 27. The sins of the men of old time, which incurred the displeasure of God…
- 28. Those persons prove themselves senseless who exaggerate the mercy of…
- 29. Refutation of the arguments of the Marcionites, who attempted to show that…
- 30. Refutation of another argument adduced by the Marcionites, that God…
- 31. We should not hastily impute as crimes to the men of old time those actions…
- 32. That one God was the author of both Testaments, is confirmed by the…
- 33. Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and…
- 34. Proof against the Marcionites, that the prophets referred in all their…
- 35. A refutation of those who allege that the prophets uttered some predictions…
- 36. The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was…
- 37. Men are possessed of free will, and endowed with the faculty of making a…
- 38. Why man was not made perfect from the beginning
- 39. Man is endowed with the faculty of distinguishing good and evil; so that…
- 40. One and the same God the Father inflicts punishment on the reprobate, and…
- 41. Those persons who do not believe in God, but who are disobedient, are…
- Against Heresies: Book 5
- Preface
- 1. Christ alone is able to teach divine things, and to redeem us: He, the same…
- 2. When Christ visited us in His grace, He did not come to what did not belong…
- 3. The power and glory of God shine forth in the weakness of human flesh, as He…
- 4. Those persons are deceived who feign another God the Father besides the…
- 5. The prolonged life of the ancients, the translation of Elijah and of Enoch…
- 6. God will bestow salvation upon the whole nature of man, consisting of body…
- 7. Inasmuch as Christ did rise in our flesh, it follows that we shall be also…
- 8. The gifts of the Holy Spirit which we receive prepare us for incorruption…
- 9. Showing how that passage of the apostle which the heretics pervert, should…
- 10. By a comparison drawn from the wild olive-tree, whose quality but not whose…
- 11. Treats upon the actions of carnal and of spiritual persons; also, that the…
- 12. Of the difference between life and death; of the breath of life and the…
- 13. In the dead who were raised by Christ we possess the highest proof of the…
- 14. Unless the flesh were to be saved, the Word would not have taken upon Him…
- 15. Proofs of the resurrection from Isaiah and Ezekiel; the same God who…
- 16. Since our bodies return to the earth, it follows that they have their…
- 17. There is but one Lord and one God, the Father and Creator of all things…
- 18. God the Father and His Word have formed all created things (which They use)…
- 19. A comparison is instituted between the disobedient and sinning Eve and the…
- 20. Those pastors are to be heard to whom the apostles committed the Churches…
- 21. Christ is the head of all things already mentioned. It was fitting that He…
- 22. The true Lord and the one God is declared by the law, and manifested by…
- 23. The devil is well practised in falsehood, by which Adam having been led…
- 24. Of the constant falsehood of the devil, and of the powers and governments…
- 25. The fraud, pride, and tyrannical kingdom of Antichrist, as described by…
- 26. John and Daniel have predicted the dissolution and desolation of the Roman…
- 27. The future judgment by Christ. Communion with and separation from the…
- 28. The distinction to be made between the righteous and the wicked. The future…
- 29. All things have been created for the service of man. The deceits…
- 30. Although certain as to the number of the name of Antichrist, yet we should…
- 31. The preservation of our bodies is confirmed by the resurrection and…
- 32. In that flesh in which the saints have suffered so many afflictions, they…
- 33. Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by…
- 34. He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom…
- 35. He contends that these testimonies already alleged cannot be understood…
- 36. Men shall be actually raised: the world shall not be annihilated; but there…